September 21--"Ripening"

Whether you think you can or you can't--you're right.  --Henry Ford

    Amen! And Mr. Ford certainly proved this one. 

    Being what is referred to as a "senior citizen" (even though I do not feel like one), aging is a topic that often drifts to the forefront of my mind and enters discussions with friends. Richard Rohr, in his "Daily Meditations," refers to this as "ripening." He offers these words from Sister Joan Chittister relative to continuing to grow spiritually as we age:

Now is the time to ask ourselves what kind of person we have been becoming all these years. And do we like that person? Did we become more honest, more decent, more caring, more merciful as we went along because of all these things? And if not, what must we be doing about it now? . . .

Can we begin to see ourselves as only part of the universe, just a fragment of it, not its center? Can we give ourselves to accepting the heat and the rain, the pain and the limitations, the inconveniences and discomforts of life, without setting out to passively punish the rest of the human race for the daily exigencies that come with being human?

Can we smile at what we have not smiled at for years? Can we give ourselves away to those who need us? Can we speak our truth without needing to be right and accept the vagaries of life now—without needing the entire rest of the world to swaddle us beyond any human justification for expecting it? Can we talk to people decently and allow them to talk to us? . . .

Now, this period, this aging process, is the last time we’re given to be more than all the small things we have allowed ourselves to be over the years. But first, we must face what the smallness is, and rejoice in the time we have left to turn sweet instead of more sour than ever.

    The choice is ours...

        Leta

"Ripening"